Ash Little Photography

I arrived in Columbia yesterday afternoon. It had been a little chaotic few days away from home to say the least. I was getting my office organized when I got a text from my buddy Brad. He was wanting me to join him at the coffee shop. I looked over at this video i had to upload. I told Brad to give me a second to start the upload and i’ll be right over.

I hopped in the car. I began driving up Assembly St.(which is the main street in Columbia) when Sarah came up behind me. I get up to the red light and roll down the window. She does her usual smile and I asked how things were going. She then tells me to turn it to this radio station. She just busts out laughing. She then screams that she was ready for another photoshoot….

I then reflected back on the shoot I shot with her for a magazine. I actually asked her to be a part of it because I thought she had the talent to carry the shoot in the direction I wanted to go. After she pulled off from the light I wished her well. I really thought she was destined for great things in life. She was still pretty young so I figured she had a few years to find those great things. She had the happiest personalities of anyone I had ever met.

So I’m working in my office today….my shoot was cancelled because of the weather. I start noticing some strange things on the facebook feeds. Me and Sarah have about 72 mutual friends on facebook and I noticed a lot of posts…….

I then made some calls and found out she passed away today in a car accident. I was truly shocked and saddened by the loss. I was really at a loss for words and can never find the right words in these situations.

I always think about my clients, friends, and family in different ways than most people. When I’m at wedding, a lot of people think I’m just looking for that shot with the bride and groom. Truthfully, when I’m taking photos of the grandparents and just people in general, I think those photos could be the most valuable at times. I’ve lost my grandparents, close relatives, and a friend in high school that I wished I could have taken photos of them just ONCE. When I look back at my photo career I always think about every one that I’ve photographed.

It really saddens me that Sarah was the first person that I knew and photographed that has passed away. She lit up the room with her warm smile and charming personality. Since I don’t have the words I wanted to include a few words that people were leaving about her…..and also a few photographs of Sarah so she will always know she will never be forgotten….

“I’m humbled to see how fast people are willing to send love to your memory Sarah. Yet I’m not surprised because you were truly great. Goodbye Sarah.”

“how does God decided when to end our lives on this earth and bring us to heaven with Him? i dont know the true answer to that question but i would like to think that today He needed someone extra special to make him smile… to make him laugh. Because that’s what you did for everyone else. Sarah, I will always remember your beautiful smile and laughter…. ”

“i’m gonna miss you. you were truly amazing…”

“Sarah, the love you gave to others made you so special. And because of that love, you will always have a place in all the hearts that you’ve touch.”

“I love you. my heart is broken. i’ll miss you.”

“You were honestly one of the most down to earth, genuine, carefree, loving person I’ve ever met in my life.”

“You were like my sister.”

“You truly were one of a kind.”

“a little piece of sunshine was taken away today!”
“I will always miss your gorgeous smile.”

“We will all miss your warm smiles when you walked into a room and your kindness to others. you were one of a kind, and I am thankful to have known you and your amazing personailty. I miss you and love you.”

“A piece of everyone’s heart who has ever met you is now gone. ”

This is Chasity & Nic. Here we are at the Blue Sky mural in Columbia.

Chasity is a lawyer. I know a really good lawyer joke but….

Nic is pretty awesome. He is the only guy that listens to ESPN radio as much as I do. I would have to say that most of my friends don’t really follow sports too much.

These guys love the Gamecocks. It’s actually a great time to be a Gamecock fan with us winning the baseball national championship last night.

This was actually taken on the horseshoe at USC.

I think Chasity spent a lot of time here for graduate work.

Last photo was shot into the sun. I figured I’d mix it up on this one…

Garnet and black will be flying on top of the State House. I may try and get a photo before I head to Charleston for my engagement shoot.

There’s actually more of these photos on the facebook page.

I’m about to take the super easy road on this blog post. I’ve been trying to complete Julie & Jeremie’s blog post but I’m still lacking on the text. Here’s how I fixed the problem for this post….a VIDEO! It’s actually a little contrasty/grainy compared to the actual photos. Pay all that money for nice equipment to NOT have grainy photos and then I add grain to it in the video….kills me. It wasn’t completely on purpose…more of a photobooth video leftover…

Ok. So here’s the story. I met with these potential clients once(not Rachel and Danny shown below), and they were asking, “hey ash, how many photos are taken at a wedding?”….so it really can vary….day weddings tend to be less photos taken for some reason…usually because they are shorter…depends on how many photographers there are….lot of variables involved…..i could go on for days with the different situations etc….

so here was my response….”probably around 2,500…”

They chime back….”well we have a friend that shoots for National Geographic(or something like it) and he said anyone that shoots that many photos at a wedding doesn’t know what they are doing….

WOW! REALLY?

ok bud….here’s 1200 photos and nobody’s blinking…..

Wedding Coordinator : Emmy Brooks at Peacock Events
Wedding Location : Linda McCormick at the Thomas Bennett House
Wedding Music : Quiana Parler and Friends and this amazing band that had the party pumping can be found here.
Catering : Cru Cafe(that i mentioned last year in a blog post) and their website can be found here. I actually had lunch here before the wedding started.

Here’s a few photos i did put up on the facebook page before i posted the video…